


It's only hair, it grows

by lifein10s



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Best Friends, Braids, Cancer, Feels, Friendship, Gen, Hair, Happy, Inspired by..., Lesbian Character, Love, One Shot, Sad, Swan Queen Week, Swan-Mills Family, Ugly Duckling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-28 23:21:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7661137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifein10s/pseuds/lifein10s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma loses a dear friend to cancer as a child and decides to donate her hair. Don't want a give too much away, so just check it out! It's sad, happy and all along adorable at the same time, a little inspiration to us all. swanqueen. one shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's only hair, it grows

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> I've decided to try a one shot and it went pretty well. I ended up falling in love with this mini story, so instead of keeping it to myself I'm sharing it with you. Let me know what you think, if you like it and you think I should continue doing one shots in addition to my longer story.
> 
> I will say in advance, there are a lot of feels in this one. Consider yourself warned!
> 
> Please like/comment if you liked it and go check out my other story- skyline of concrete dreams.

_It has been exactly thirteen years. She was her best friend, her only friend._

 

Emma pushes the glass door, the cold air hits her face and she welcomes the change; after minutes of walking under the excruciatingly warm sun. Paul waves her way, both his hands occupied, by scissors and water spray. She waves back and takes a sit on one of the two black leather couches. She plays with the ends of her hair, twisting and releasing, just to then twist them again.

 

_Lily had this long brown silky hair, so different from Emma's blonde mane; unruly curls, impossible to tame. Later on, without the raging hormonal changes and with the help of decent hair products Emma's hair turned out to be one of her favorite traits._

 

She scans the room. Two ladies sit on the chair. One getting her hair cut by Paul, the other dyeing her roots platinum blonde. To her right, on the second couch, she spots a woman and a young boy. Probably her son, if you take in count the striking resemblance. Not necessarily in their physical appearance but more in their mannerism. They both have the same concentrating face, the brunette lady reading her paper and the little boy playing on what she assumes is his mother's phone. Her leg jumps up and down nervously as she waits for her turn.

 

_She met her when she was twelve and was moved to a house, too old and used for foster families. They hit it off from day one and they were inseparable. She opened up to Lily like never before, and probably never after her. For three years she was content. Happy is too strong of a word to describe an orphan in the system with no family, nor room to herself or anything else for that matter. But she had Lily, she finally had someone._

 

Paul finishes the woman's haircut and as if on cue, the brunette lady rises up. She struts to the black chair in the corner and lays her head, waiting for the assistant to come and wash her hair. Emma almost forgot about that part. It has been months upon months since her last time here.

 

_They were fifteen when Lily got diagnosed. Just like that, everything she knew, all that was constant in her life turned upside down. Lily spent hours upon hours each week in treatments, Emma never moving from her side. She missed school and curfews but she couldn't care less. She was almost kicked out of school, saved by her counselor, who explained the entire situation her teacher._

 

"Are you done yet?" the kid ask impatiently when the woman rises from the chair, her hair in a towel. "Not yet Henry" she answers in a low husky voice and send a knowing look Emma's way, 'kids'. Emma smiles in response. "Your turn Swan" Paul gestures towards the washing chair while starting to work on the woman.

 

_Lily was a fighter, the smile never strayed from her face; even when the black under her eyes threaten to expand to her apples, even when her skin turned so pale she looked like a ghost, even when she kept shedding pounds from her almost already non existents weight. It was a sad, exhausted smile, almost a grim, but a smile nonetheless._

 

The assistant dries her hair and Emma smiles her thanks. She sits on the other chair, the previous woman sitting on the couch with her dyed hair folded in pieces of silver paper. "Just wait here Regina" he says to the other woman "Maria will fan your hair in a minute" Regina nods her agreement while Paul makes his way to her chair. Her hands are sweaty and she rubs them on her jeans. "We're going all out, yes?" she nods, too nervous to speak.

 

_Months of chemo failed doing their job but they didn't fail causing harm to her best friend's body. She was weak, constantly sick and utterly defeated. And her hair, her beautiful long 'model' hair, like Emma liked to call it, fell off in chunks, until her head could be used as a reflector._

 

Her, now almost dry hair, reaches her butt. It's unbelievably long, the longest she ever had; due to a couple of good years of leaving it alone. Paul brushes it off and braids it. He ties the braid at end and the grabs another tie and secures it at the base, right where the braid starts.

 

_Eventually the cancer was too aggressive and there isn't much 'more and beyond' you can do when you're a foster kid. She died two years later, only seventeen. More than any other thing Emma has ever been through, this was the one to break her. She cut loose and did every mistake written in the book: she became semi alcoholic, she tried drugs (at least the ones she could afford), she partied in all the wrong places and even shop lifted, just for the sake of it. Eventually she wasn't that lucky and she got caught. Seven months in jail and a couple of scars from fighting for her spot left her exhausted. Exhausted and over this stupid faze. She knows Lily would never approve, she would look at her with her judging yet 'tough loving' look and tell her to get her shit together._

 

"Are we sure?" he asks cheerfully but gently at the same time. She looks at the woman, she is staring at her. "Are you going to cut it all off?" she hears the kid ask from behind her. She can't see him but she can imagine his large green eyes round with wonder. "Yes" she answers and her voice is less sturdy than she would like it to be. "Why?" he's now in her line of sight and she almost laughs when she sees his expression, the exact one she thought he'd have. "So they can take my hair and make a wig out of it and give it to girls with cancer."

He seems to contemplate her answer before coming back with "Why would they need wigs?"

"Henry" she hears the woman, Regina, warning

"It's okay" she assures her and turn back to the kid "Girls who have cancer go through chemo therapy, the treatment can cause their hair to fall off."

Henry looks petrified "Off their head?" she nods "Bold girls?" he asks and she confirms again. He seems to digest the thought in his head. In the mean while Paul re-approaches her with the scissors and lifts his eyebrow in question. She gives him the thumbs up.

 

_So she got her shit together and joined the law enforcement. She stopped drinking and partying and never touched a drug again. She pulled herself back up enough to realize new things about herself. She went out and socialized, she built a life and started dating a nice girl. Their thing ended eventually but at least she tried._

 

He cuts it all off and the whole thing is over in a matter of seconds. Not as terrifying as she thought, though her heart still beats furiously in her chest. She looks in the mirror and sees Paul placing the braid in a paper envelop with the charity's name written on it.

 

 _Emma is a pretty stereotypical lesbian; with the beanies, the tank tops, the leather jackets and the muscular arms. But she never liked her hair short, she always had it long. Long blonde locks cascading, you could almost say, watching her back_.

 

She turns to look at herself. Her hair is so short. Tears swell up in her eyes, happy tears.

"He took all your hair" the kid squeaks and she lets out a watery laugh. She locks eyes with the brunette, who seems to understand. She smiles towards her, it's closer to a smirk, but it still holds a promise.

"It's okay" she assures him while combing her fingers through the short golden locks; a tad darker now that her burnt ends are gone.

"It's only hair, it grows."


End file.
